Saturday, June 6, 2009

Moves start to June 15 due to flu virus threatUniversities urged to upgrade sanitation facilities

By ANGELO G. GARCIA and ROY C. MABASA

June 7, 2009, 3:22am

The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) announced yesterday that the opening of classes for colleges and universities would be postponed for a week due to concerns on the looming threat of Influenza A (H1N1) in the country.

Chairman Emmanuel Angeles of CHEd said classes will open on Monday, June 15, instead of June 8. Other colleges and universities reset their classes opening to June 16 and 17.

The CHEd’s decision to reset the opening of classes followed the confirmation of Influenza A cases on three students, two of them Japanese nationals, of De La Salle University (DLSU) on Taft Ave., Malate, Manila. De La Salle officials cancelled classes in its main campus as it imposed a ten-day quarantine or up to June 14.

Angeles said the postponement of classes will enable the students, especially those coming from abroad, ample time to check on their health and go on self-quarantine in case of any symptoms of the virus.

Three universities in Metro Manila earlier reset the opening of their classes. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) and University of the Philippines – Manila (UP-M) campus moved their classes opening from June 8 to June 15 while Far Eastern University reset its opening to June 17.

The Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) in Intramuros also reset the opening of classes to June 15 as university officials prepared also for the city university’s 44th foundation day celebration on June 18 and 19 with former President Fidel V. Ramos leading the guests.

The Department of Health has reported 33 swine flu cases, but all have shown mild symptoms, according to Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III. The country has the most number of swine flu cases in Southeast Asia according to the World Health Organization.

Angeles said that CHEd is coordinating closely with the Department of Health in monitoring the country’s schools, most especially DLSU’s situation. "Our colleges and universities have many foreign students who are coming from different countries that have swine flu victims," Angeles said.

As this developed, Vice President Noli De Castro said that schools which postponed the opening of their classes due to the threat of influenza A(H1N1) should invest in procuring sanitation products such as hand sanitizers or hand wash and place them in their comfort rooms for the protection of the students.

"After the suspension of their classes, how can they be sure that the threat, the virus, will go away," De Castro said.

The pronouncement came after several top schools in Metro Manila announced that they will postpone the opening of classes after the confirmation of cases of infection of the influenza A(H1N1) virus involving students of De La Salle University.

These schools include University of Asia and the Pacific (UAP), St. Paul University Manila, UST and FEU.

"Students and employees who recently went abroad for summer vacation are advised to go on self-quarantine for 10 days and to visit their personal doctors if influenza-like symptoms manifest within this period," said the UAP.

The UAP clarified, however, that "at present, we have no reported case of Influenza A(H1N1) virus among our students and employees. We took merely as a precaution."

St. Paul University Manila, in a separate statement, said that its president Wynna Marie A. Medina announced the postponement of the opening of classes to June 16.

"The postponement has been decided upon to give the university a chance to set precautionary measures in place," it said.

St. Paul University said that enrolment in the university would continue, and that employees are expected to report for work despite the postponement of opening of classes.

TOKYO (AP) -- A few months from now, a highly contagious disease will spread through a Japanese elementary school. The epidemic will start with several unwitting children, who will infect others as they attend classes and wander the halls.

If nothing is done, it will quickly gain momentum and rip through the student body, then jump to parents and others in the community. But officials will attempt to stymie the disease and save the school - using mobile phones.

The sickness will be a virtual one, in an experiment funded by the Japanese government. A subsidiary of Softbank Corp., a major Japanese Internet and cellular provider, has proposed a system that uses phones to limit pandemics.

The exact details have yet to be fixed, but Softbank hopes to pick an elementary school with about 1,000 students and give them phones equipped with GPS. The locations of the children will be recorded every minute of the day and stored on a central server.

A few students will be chosen to be considered "infected," and their movements over the previous few days will be compared with those of everyone else. The stored GPS data can then be used to determine which children have crossed paths with the infected students and are at risk of having contracted the disease.

The families of exposed students will be notified by messages to their mobile phones, instructing them to get checked out by doctors. In a real outbreak, that could limit the rate of new infections.

"The number of people infected by such a disease quickly doubles, triples and quadruples as it spreads. If this rate is decreased by even a small amount, it has a big effect in keeping the overall outbreak in check," said Masato Takahashi, who works on infrastructure strategy at Softbank.

He demonstrates with a calculation: If an infected person makes about three more people sick per day, and each newly infected person then makes another three people sick, on the 10th day about 60,000 people would catch the disease. If each sick person instead infected two people a day, on the 10th day about 1,000 people would get sick.

The experiment was conceived before the current outbreak of swine flu, but has drawn fresh attention now that Japan has the highest number of confirmed cases outside of North America.

It is one of 24 trials the government recently approved as part of a program to promote new uses for Japan's Internet and cellular infrastructure. The country boasts some of the most advanced mobile phone technology in the world. It is blanketed in high-speed cellular networks, and phones come standard with features like GPS, TV and touchless train passes.

The mobile phone market is largely saturated, however, and fees are being driven down by an ongoing price war. For Softbank, a government-backed health-monitoring service could be boon to business.

GPS has its shortcomings, including hazy readings indoors. But Softbank believes it could keep readings accurate to several yards, at least for an experiment in a limited area.

Until now, technologies like GPS have mainly been used to help people figure out where they are and what is nearby. As networked devices like the iPhone become more popular, new applications let people track their children or friends, and could give companies and governments access to their location.

Aoyama Gakuin University, a prestigious school in Tokyo, is giving Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3G to students, partially as a way to check attendance via GPS readings from an application running on the phone.

That kind of project raises privacy concerns, and one of the goals of the Japanese experiment is to judge how participants feel about having their location constantly recorded.

If a disease-tracking system were launched for real, no one would be required to sign up, said Takuo Imagawa, an official at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Hyderabad/ND, Jun 6: The first case of human-to-human transmission of the deadly virus of swine flu in the country was reported from Hyderabad, raising concerns and pushing up the number of persons af-flicted by the disease to seven today.The human-to-human transmission took place when a man, who came back from the United States on May 31, infected his youn-ger brother who was living in Hyderabad. Both of them have tested positive for the disease.One more case was re-ported in Karimnagar locali- ty of Hyderabad. A mother-son duo, who were sitting two rows behind the pas-senger from the United Sta- tes, also reported symptoms of flu.While the child tested positive, the results of the tests on the mother are yet to come.Though the severity of the infection cannot be said to be more, human-to-human transmission is a cause of concern as this means that the virus is cir-culating in the environment now, Director of the Indian Council for Medical Res-earch (ICMR) Dr VN Katoch told said."There might also be a spurt in the cases of swine flu after September as gene-rally we see an increase in cases of common influenza during this period," he said.The Centre has taken im-mediate steps and rushed Rapid Action Teams to Hy-derabad to spruce up con- tainment measures.The total number of posi-tive cases has gone upto seven with the latest cases from Hyderabad.According to Shivlal, Di-rector of the National Ins- titute of Communicable Di-seases (NICD), who headed a Central team to Hydera-bad, though basic measures have to be taken by the State Government, the Centre has formed two teams to moni-tor the situation in Hyde- rabad and Karimnagar.The Government has al-ready banned the import of livestock and its products from all countries in wake of the spread of the swine flu.It has also prohibited im-ports of live poultry, egg and its products, live pigs, pathological material, un-processed feathers from the countries reporting avian influenza.The World Health Orga-nisation has so far reported 19,273 laboratory confirmed cases of influenza A/H1N1 infection from 66 countries as on June 3, 2009. The disease has so far claimed 117 lives. Health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is continuing at 21 international airports in India. PTI

Medical workers who contract the new type of influenza from patients and who then have to take time off work will be compensated for income lost while they are on sick leave, government officials said.

The medical institution where the worker is employed also will receive compensation.

The compensation will be paid from a 1 trillion yen temporary subsidy for local revitalization and measures for tackling the economic crisis, which has been newly created in the supplementary budget for this fiscal year.

The compensation will be paid from this autumn through local governments who have requested the money from the central government.

As of Saturday, there had been no reports of secondary infection with the new flu among medical workers.

In May, when the number of people in the nation suffering from the virus started rising, local governments began pressing the central government for sick leave compensation in the event of medical workers becoming infected with the new flu and being forced to recuperate at home.

Some argue that the risk of secondary infection among medical workers has increased since May 22, when the government's new policy allowed people suspected of being infected with the new flu to seek treatment not only at fever clinics for treating such people but also at ordinary hospitals and clinics in areas where the number of new flu patients had soared.

The government sees the compensation as part of its regional support measures and examined whether the subsidy could be used for this purpose before reaching its decision. The main purpose of the subsidy is economic measures, but the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry interpreted the compensation for doctors and other medical workers as assuring public safety and security, which is one of the subsidy's purposes.

The government will allow the subsidy to be used for some other new flu related purposes as well, such as salaries for nonresident doctors working at fever clinics and phone line connection fees at fever consultation centers.

Previously, the government granted more flexible uses of the subsidy as anti-new flu measures. For example, it can also be used to pay cancellation fees when a school trip must be called off because of a new flu scare.

Dr. Abdel Rahman Shahin, spokesman of the Ministry of Health on the healing of the girl Mariam Essam Fawzi «12 years» infected with swine flu «H1N1», which is the first case to be announced in Egypt, for getting out of the hospital Abbasiyah fevers within hours.بعد أن أثبتت الفحوصات المعملية التي أجريت لها خلوها تماما من الفيروس.Have shown that laboratory tests carried out with completely free of the virus.

In a related context, the quarantine authorities at Cairo airport detained 4 suspected cases of the disease, samples were taken for analysis labs, including the central Ministry of Health to make sure they are free from disease.

Shaheen said that the hotline received yesterday a 1906 communications between queries and reports, bringing the total since the first communication of May and until yesterday to contact 59,474, while 17,813 were matched to 101 passengers on board the plane and 19 on the ship coming from affected countries - all outlets quarantine the republic level.

He noted the spokesman of the Ministry of Health that the number of Mnazerthm was the first since last May, 567,041 people as of yesterday, adding outlets to strengthen quarantine inspection cameras warming.

For his part, Dr. Hamed Samaha - Chairman of the General Authority for Veterinary Services, Ministry of Agriculture - it was decided to postpone the disposal of pigs Helwan, which was scheduled to begin today to a date to be determined by the Governor.

For his part, Dr. Sami Al-Taha - Member of the Veterinary Association, said that attention must be given to the fight against disease, swine flu at the expense of bird flu, adding that bird flu is more dangerous.

He said, adding that the role of each province to resist the bird flu disease confined to the resistance inside without any kind of coordination with other departments and Taha pointed out that the situation in Egypt is currently under a very serious outbreak of avian flu and swine flu threat, adding that it must be intensified in the presence of stone Health and vet to prevent the entry of swine flu in Egypt.

Saturday, June 6, 2009 - 14:39D said. Yosri Congratulations, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health the lake, the hospital admitted Damanhour and Alexandria, the detention of 5 cases of suspected bird flu patients after the emergence of the symptoms are similar to the symptoms, from very high temperature, sore throat and difficulty in breathing and pain in the bones.

Where the hospital admitted the detention of praise Damanhour Mahmoud Abdel Aziz (32 years) resident Biitay gunpowder Salma Nasr (20 years) resident of Mahmudiya and dreams of Nur al-Din (13 year student) Bdinmhor resident, in the hospital admitted the detention of the mercy of Alexandria Ahmed Mohamed (4 years) resident, for a rotor kaafirs Abdul Wahab Mohammad (48 years) living in Kafr Dawar, cases have been detained and placed under observation after taking a blood sample for analysis, including the central laboratory in Cairo, with the extent of their disease.

And were immediately set up a committee from the Directorate of Preventive Medicine and Department of health and veterinary medicine, accompanied by the security forces, moved to the injured, clearing houses and clearing houses nearby and took samples of birds in the home laboratory for examination.

Department of Health began in Kafr Al Sheikh, the intensification of security measures and health after the discovery of the deadly bird flu, as the d. Osama Farid Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health to maintain that there is a continuous monitor of the dwellers of the affected site to detect any other cases showing symptoms of pneumonia or very high temperature .

The unique situation of bird flu infected 78 of the girl child Zainab Hilal Mahmoud (4 years) from the village of Kafr El-Sheikh Red Center are curable, especially since it was discovered after the emergence of symptoms during the 24 hours and no complications were satisfactory.

The situation had been detected and diagnosed by a doctor, health unit village red, and after the girl was rushed Tamiflu drug, the unique, to take the necessary precautions in the injury and the taking of samples from contacts of the girl child and then sent to the laboratories of the Ministry of Health.

Friday, June 5, 2009

WHO flu alerts to reflect severity as well as spreadFri Jun 5, 2009 1:48pm EDT

GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organisation (WHO) kept its pandemic flu alert at the second highest level on Friday but said that future changes would reflect how severe an outbreak was as well as how widespread.

The U.N. agency has been weighing how to revamp its pandemic alert scale to reflect both the severity of the flu as well as its geographic spread around the world.

This follows criticism that it may have caused undue panic about the new strain whose effects have been mainly mild apart from in Mexico, where it is known to have killed 103 people.

"There was a broad consensus on the importance of including information on severity in future announcements," said a statement issued after flu experts held hour-long talks.

The experts, meeting as WHO's emergency committee, made recommendations on a number of factors to be taken into account to assess the severity of an epidemic, it said, without giving details.

WHO's top flu expert Keiji Fukuda said this week that one idea was to add three severity notches to the highest marker of 6, so the overall level can reach the peak even if the flu's effects remain moderate, and then be adjusted again later if the virus causes more serious health problems.

The experts also maintained their advice against closing borders or restricting international travel to try to halt the continued spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, measures deemed ineffective.

Production of seasonal influenza vaccines should also continue for now, as work proceeds on developing a vaccine against the new strain, widely known as swine flu, it said.

The meeting, convened at the request of WHO Director-General Margaret Chan, did not consider crossing the threshold to the highest phase 6, according to WHO officials. That issue had not been on the formal agenda.

WHO's pandemic scale remains at the second-highest level, phase 5 on a scale of 1 to 6, meaning a pandemic is imminent.

Before Friday's changes, the WHO would have had to confirm sustained spread of the virus in one country in another region besides North America to declare a full-blown pandemic, although officials had made it clear they were already looking at how severe the epidemic was before going to the top level.

Earlier, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told Reuters: "The director-general will use the occasion to ask the emergency committee members -- the 'flu gurus' around the world -- how and if we should have some sort of severity index within phase 6."

The experts discussed the latest findings about the virus and reviewed measures under WHO's International Health Regulations, which require countries to report promptly on outbreaks and intensify their surveillance for unusual signs.

The new strain has infected 21,940 people in 69 countries, killing 125 of them, according to the WHO. Mexico, the United States and Canada have borne the brunt of the illness and a case was confirmed in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

Fukuda, the WHO's acting assistant director-general, said on Tuesday that the virus' spread in Australia, Britain, Chile, Japan, and Spain had nudged the world closer to a pandemic.hat-tip Shiloh

GENEVA : The World Health Organisation on Friday began consulting its emergency committee of flu experts on the severity of the swine flu virus and possible travel recommendations.

However, the UN health agency was not expecting to make a decision on whether to declare a fully-fledged swine flu pandemic Friday, a WHO spokeswoman said, even though the body of scientists could recommend that it did so.

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss the "severity of H1N1 and also to review international health-related measures," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said.

She later told AFP: "There is no decision to expect to move to phase six today," referring to the six-level pandemic alert scale.

The alert is now at phase five, which signals that a pandemic is "imminent."

Gregory Hartl, a WHO spokesman added that travel recommendations would be discussed by the emergency committee.

The experts would also be asked to give their opinion on "adding a characterization of severity" to the alert scale.

A senior WHO official had said Tuesday that the world was "getting closer" to a swine flu pandemic as the virus shows early signs of spreading locally in countries outside the Americas.

"Globally we believe that we are at phase five but are getting closer to phase six," Keiji Fukuda, WHO assistant director-general, said then.

He cited Australia, Britain, Japan, Spain and Chile in particular as countries where the flu was showing early signs of local spread.

Australia's swine flu tally jumped by more than a third to nearly 900 on Thursday.

Some 69 countries around the world have reported 21,940 cases to the WHO, according to latest figures on the WHO website.

Under the WHO's guidelines, one key criteria for a move to the highest phase six alert would be established community spread in a country outside the first region in which the disease was initially reported, in this case, outside the Americas.

Other than geographical spread, WHO officals said last month that they were also looking at the severity of the virus, possible changes in the pattern of illness, its impact on poor countries or circulation in the southern hemisphere where it could mix with seasonal flu.

Fukuda said Tuesday that the swine flu situation could be described as "moderate" rather than "mild".

This is because "we do not have a full handle on the number of people with serious illnesses," he added.

WHO has sent a statement for the management of quarantine, to the effect that increasing the number of countries that have developed within the department with a suspicion of the state to add 67 "Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Jamaica," hence the need for quarantine checks of all airport arrivals from these countries before entering the terminal in Cairo, and also All passengers will be traveling to Egypt with other countries screening at airports prior to entry into the world of those countries after the first case of the girl child, "Mary."

As the quarantine authorities at Cairo International Airport on Thursday, examining the 5000 passengers from 55 flights from countries affected by avian influenza virus, swine, and by the World Health Organization within the circle of suspicion to the next and all of the rigorous medical examination by the medical quarantine before entering the country to detect any HIV infections and isolate even to ensure their safety.

As stated by Dr. Hassan Shaaban, Managing Director of the airport to the quarantine of all passengers arriving on Thursday, the safety did not show any symptoms of suspicion, in addition to the registration of all their statements and their places of residence in Egypt for the control of health during the period of presence through the medical district of the residence.

Friday, June 5, 2009 - 15:05Detained hospital fevers Mahala 4 new cases of suspected infected with avian influenza, and their places allocated to it, to make sure that when they fall ill or not, after feeling very up in temperature and lack of breath, and bone pain.

Where he was detained with Mohamed Hassan Alchmary (4 years) of the estate Obodraa Mehalla and Hassanein Fouad Samir Sabri (5 years) from the village of Mit Allit Hashim Center Mahala, and Abdu Hadi Halima (30 years old), a housewife from the Center for Qtor, Ihab Maher Abdel-Moneim (3 years) of the tower Mahallat Mehalla.

Blood samples were taken and the melancholy hours, and sent to the central laboratories of the Ministry of Health and give them the drug Altaymflo.صرح بذلك عصام عثمان مدير إدارة الطب الوقائى بمديرية الصحة بالغربية. Essam Osman said that the Director of the Department of Preventive Medicine, Directorate of Health meeting Sunday attended.

In Dakahlia detained in Mansoura Chest Hospital on Monday 8, including 2 of the same family on suspicion of contracting the bird flu symptoms, namely: Bilal Rushdie Rushdie, 7 years, and his brother Reza, two and a half years from the village of Mit Antar بطلخا, Ahmed Hamdi Mohamed, a year and a half year, from the village of Almasrp, and Hanan Sabir Ibrahim Zahir, of the estate and Asif Bmit Ghamr, Mohamed Mohamed Ahmed Abbas, the two-and 3 months, from the village of al-Zahra Bbalkas, Dhahi Prince and Joseph, two years of Mansoura, Bilal and the safety of Rushdie, two and a half years, from the village of Kom Derby, and toxicity of Mohamed Hassan, 12, of Mansoura.

In Qena, Qena held hospital fevers both du'aa Mustafa Hamdi, two years from the village of solar modules, and Suheir Ibrahim Ahmed, 27, from the village of Kosheh on suspicion of bird flu after an outbreak of the symptoms of the disease on them.

In the lake, said Dr. Yusri Congratulations, Under-Secretary, Ministry of Health, the government, admitted that the hospital held dreams Damanhour Radwan Nour Eddin, 13 years old, on suspicion of being infected with the disease.

In Qaliubiya, was arrested Hospital admitted Mr. Obwafattouh Banha, 16 years, working at the poultry farm milk, on suspicion of being infected, said Dr. Abdaty Abda'er, Director of Preventive Medicine: The isolated and given the drug Tamiflu and the taking of samples for analysis.

In Minya, Minya detained a hospital admitted yesterday Reza Masud Anwar Qadir, 4 years, from the village of Manshiyat alliance of the Center for the enemy, and that of Mohammed Abdul, 32, from the village of the Center for Damishao Minya.hat-tip Florida1

The Ministry of Health yesterday to confirm the incidence of human disease No. 79 of avian flu to a child, Ahmed Fathi, Ahmed Issa, a year old and 5 months from the village of Albesartp Damietta Governorate.

Dr. Abdel Rahman Shahin, official spokesman of the Ministry of Health, said that the symptoms first appeared on the Child June, entered the hospital yesterday admitted Damietta, which is suffering a rise in temperature and named after birds suspected of being infected with avian flu.

On the other hand, was detained in hospital diets 6 provinces, yesterday, the day before yesterday, a citizen of the 22 suspected SARS symptoms similar to bird flu, including 8 in Dakahlia, in Qena and 2, and 1 in the lake, and 1 in the Qaliubiya, and 8 in Damietta, and 2 in Minya, announced the Directorate of Veterinary Medicine in Fayyoum seized 22 live birds shops selling without licenses, and the execution of 723 birds in the nest and stores violation.

On the other hand, providence saved the village of Kafr Salem, Tanta Center of mass outbreak of a fire investigator, the impact of a poultry farm, resulting in the deaths of thousands of chickens and 7 show that the fire broke out at a poultry farm of the king, Mustafa Ahmed Shakir (64 years) farms.

The eastern region is still extensive campaigns to combat avian influenza virus have been removed as a continuous 5 thousands of shanty home, on the other samples were withdrawn from the housewife (37 years) and daughter (11 years) from the village after Clclmon detention of the suspect was also imposed strict measures to prevent the entry and exit of birds without permits from the veterinary medicine.

Sami al-Amara on the approval of the governor Monoufia the General Authority for Veterinary Services on the appointment of 75 veterinarians to fill the deficit in the maintenance of the system, on the other 10 were seized thousands of chickens within a one to control by more than 18 thousand chickens Sablah cars, 5, and 76 was closed in violation of a poultry farm since last November until now.

The ministry stressed that the sample was taken on Thursday evening, the girl was examined by a factor of the Ministry of Health Alnamillo 3 of America, the results are negative this morning, and on the basis of this declaration was to recover the full and free of the virus, thus allowed to spiral out of the hospital.

RAIGANJ, 4 JUNE: Residents of Kantore, Kasimpur and Chhotokantore villages in Hemtabad block of North Dinajpur are concerned as, even after culling and mopping, there are still several thousand birds in the Bird Flu affected villages which may be contaminated with the disease. Yet the North Dinajpur animal husbandry department has allegedly not made any response to the crisis.

After Bird Flu was detected in the area recently, the North Dinajpur animal husbandry department targeted to kill around 14,000 birds. This number later rose to 23,000. However, reportedly, there are another 3,000 birds in the villages. Everyday, ten to fifteen birds die of the disease. The villagers are concerned, as the culling effort did not do its job.

The pradhan of Hemtabad gram panchyat Mr Saifur Rahaman said: "After culling and mopping there are still around 2,000 birds in Kantore village. The culling teams did not check the houses of the village intensively during their work. Flu-affected birds are still dying here everyday and fresh tension has spread in our village. This problem was brought to the notice of the Joint BDO, Hemtabad, but no measure has been taken yet.” When asked, the deputy director of the North Dinajpur animal husbandry department Dr Sajal Bhuniya declined to comment.

The North Dinajpur DM Mr Ramanuj Chakraborty said: “The continuing presence of infected birds in such villages has been reported to us. After visiting the villages we will instruct the concerned department to take needful action immediately."

Thursday, June 4, 2009

[This is an older article, back when they were thinking of postponing the Hajj...but they decided not to postpone it. I want this article here, for historical purposes.....]

Thursday, 14/05/2009Called on Dr. Ali Gomaa, Mufti of Egypt, to the need for collective effort among all the jurisprudential academies recognized at the level of the Islamic world, in order to escape the advisory opinion of a unified position of Islamic law explains about the possibility of postponing the performance of Hajj and Umrah, because of the spread of swine flu virus.

وقال جمعة فى تصريحات خاصة لـ "المصرى اليوم": "الفتوى بتأجيل أداء الحج والعمرة لا ينبغى أن تصدر بصورة فردية، وإنما يجب أن تتم فى صورة جماعية بحضور فقهاء الأمة الإسلامية، والتنسيق مع المجامع الفقهية المعتمدة فى العالم الإسلامى". Gomaa said in exclusive statements to "Egyptian Today": "fatwa to postpone the performance of Hajj and Umrah should not be made individually, but must be in the form of a collective presence of the scholars of the Islamic nation, and coordination with the jurisprudential academies based in the Islamic world."

He added: delay in the performance of Hajj and Umrah in the case of the spread of the virusin a large part determined by the technical stakeholders such as ministries of health, environment and agriculture, then comes the, on the reports of the ministries, the nation's scholars of Islamic jurisprudence to define a common position on this threat. "

Gom'a The maintenance of human life and prevention of diseases of the purposes of Islamic law, he said, pointing to support preventive actions taken by the Ministry of Health to protect citizens from the dangers of the spread of swine flu virus.

The decision of the Ministry of Agriculture to execute pigs HELWAN expanded international opposition to the central assertions that there is prior agreement between Egypt and international organizations to halt the execution of this decision the pigs compared to Egypt's access to technical assistance for the development of swine industry.

On fears of a mutated bird flu virus in the case of the integration of the virus with the swine flu virus, the minister said that preparations are underway for the opening of a new plant follows the Central Laboratory for the control of production of sending into exile in order to speed analysis of suspected cases of bird flu disease, bird flu, taking the actions necessary to prevent its spread and to carry out disinfection and sterilization foci of infected pointing out that the opening of a new laboratory for the analysis of samples from birds suspected of being infected with bird flu based in the city of Luxor to meet the needs of Upper Egypt from the analysis of samples of birds suspected of being infected with the disease.

The Agriculture Minister said there was «a sensation» on the activities of the vaccines used to immunize birds in rural education can not agree to allow the circulation of vaccine are not calibrated to ensure its efficiency, however, after making sure it بالعباسية approved by the Laboratory and the Agricultural Research Center to preview the vaccine before trading,

Pointing out that the use of the expertise of reference in Italy and England to ensure the efficiency of these vaccines and the problem lies in the constant mutation of the virus every six months, thereby reducing the effectiveness of the vaccines used.

The statement said that the symptoms appeared to the child earlier this month and entered the hospital fevers Damietta with a fever, running nose and a rise in temperature after the coming of the birds suspected of being infected with bird flu.

Egypt has announced the injury on Tuesday, No. 78 of bird flu Egyptian girl, aged 4 years from the province of Kafr el-Sheikh al-Sheikh in Egypt.

وبذلك يرتفع عدد حالات الاصابة بمرض أنفلونزا الطيور الى 79 حالة منذ ظهور الفيروس في مصر في فبراير/شباط 2006. This brings the number of cases of bird flu to 79 since the emergence of the virus in Egypt in February 2006.ومعظم المصابين في مصر كانوا على اتصال بطيور محلية مصابة في بلد تعتمد فيه نحو خمسة ملايين أسرة على دواجن تُربى في المنازل كمصدر هام للطعام والدخل. Most people living in Egypt had been in contact with infected domestic birds in a country where the adoption of the family of about five million chickens in the backyard, as an important source of food and income.وقالت منظمة الصحة العالمية الشهر الماضي انها تخشى من ان بعض المصريين ربما يحملون فيروس انفلونزا الطيور دون ان تظهر عليهم أعراضه وهو ما قد يمنح الفيروس فرصة أكبر للتحول الى سلالة تنتشر بسهولة بين البشر.The World Health Organization said last month it was feared that some of the Egyptians may have the bird flu virus without showing any symptoms, which may give the virus a greater chance of turning into a strain easily spread among humans.

Sahin said that the onset of symptoms the child was the first of this month, entered the hospital on their fevers Damietta is suffering from high temperature after being nominated for the birds suspected of having bird flu virus.

This is what I am watching for clusters within Egypt. Taken from my list of suspected cases, I look for name and/or town connections. Take this with a grain of salt. Just to give you a general idea of hot spots.

June 1 http://tinyurl.com/mbysqkMr. Sami (2 1/2) and his brotherMohammed (5) of Kafr Miqdaam

Post #140 May 15thHoda Hamdi Mahmoud, (2 1/2) of the Arab village of Kafr center line.June 1 http://tinyurl.com/mbysqkKarim Abdul-Aziz from the Arabs of KFOR, Center LineMohammed Abdul Aziz from the Arabs of KFOR, Center Line

Sohag Gov.June 13 http://tinyurl.com/nq3lre5 members of one family:Afaf Hamed Khalil Ahmad (30 years) Mohamed Hassan (11 years)called his sisters and Mannar (8 years), andany (6 years) andmercy (3 years)Note: and confirmed mother to her four children, they showed fatigue, respectively, thereby forcing them to go to a private clinic, then was transferred to a hospital diets, which are all held together with the mother.

June 13 http://tinyurl.com/n5tmx3Swine FluMohamed Magdy Ahmed (27 years) of Mansoura,who returned from America two weeks ago and he showed symptoms of the diseaseAhmed Mohammed Abdel Muti (23 years) Dmas Ghamron suspicion of being infected with HIV is also swine flu "H1N1"

June 14 http://tinyurl.com/ln2b3m19 suspected case of bird flu - detained in Mansoura Chest HospitalSwine Flu:4 cases of non detention in hospital:Magdi Mohamed Ahmed of the city of MansouraAhmed Mohamed Abdel from Dmas GhamrMajid Mohammed Nour Tamer Mohamed from MansouraNote: The hospital were detained for two days on suspicion of contracting the disease after onset of symptoms to them, as the three of them coming from America and the fourth working Minya Governorate.

Post #10 May 23Nostalgia Mahmoud Zakaria «two»Mohammad Najjar profitable «60 years» of AjaMohamed Abdel-Moneim Mohamed Abdo «35 years» from MitZeinab Sharif Salim «13 years »from the village of Great SrjtMohamed Salah Rizk« 23 years »from the village of OtmidpNadia Ahmed Kadri« 11 years »from the village of MitNagi Mohamed Al-Marwa « two »Bfal in the village of MitHabib Saher Mohammedi «9 months» Manshiyat of the BedouinFawzi Mohamed Ismail «5 years» from the Manshiyat SchumannMohammad Ali Hadi Hussein «6 month» from the village of Kafr SranjaSalwa Salah Ahmed «20 years» from the village of Baja ScheininFaris Ahmed Mustafa Ziad «15 months» Albylock AjaAbdullah Mohamed Abdullah, (under 1) from the village of Baja DeiriRowan Ibrahim Lotfy «years» from the village of the Agency Sherbin

June 10 http://tinyurl.com/kw6224 & http://tinyurl.com/m8yq63Swine Flu - confirmedMohammed Majed Mohammed (45 years)Arrived from U.S.: June 4Onset: June 8Admitted to hospital.Egyptian citizen, resident of U.S.Notes: Was in quarantine from the 4th until the 8th, when he was admitted to Alexandria Hospital.

Sohag Gov.June 13 http://tinyurl.com/nq3lre5 members of one family:Afaf Hamed Khalil Ahmad (30 years)Mohamed Hassan (11 years)called his sisters and Mannar (8 years), andany (6 years) andmercy (3 years)Note: and confirmed mother to her four children, they showed fatigue, respectively, thereby forcing them to go to a private clinic, then was transferred to a hospital diets, which are all held together with the mother.